When exploration of a subterranean wellbore has been completed, the equipment used for the exploration process is removed and replaced by equipment used for production of the subterranean resources made accessible within the wellbore by the exploration process. The exploration and production processes are referred to more generally as field operations. Because of the size and scale of the exploration and production process components, many of these components are staged ahead of time to ease the transition process. When the wellbore is under water (subsea), special equipment is required to manipulate various production process components that are located under water, often at or near the seabed.
As an example, before a riser and flex joint (part of the production equipment) are laid on the seabed for subsequent installation under water, a flex joint laydown tool (also called, more simply, a laydown tool) is installed above the water level. In such a case, the laydown tool is coupled to the riser and the flex joint where the riser and flex joint adjoin each other. The laydown tool helps prevent damage to the riser and flex joint during laydown on the seabed and subsequent recovery by transmitting the load of the riser (also called a steel catenary riser or SCR) to the flex joint body and by preventing over-stressing of the bellows and ball joint within the flex joint. As such, the laydown tool protects the flex joint from bending and from axial tension/compression beyond design limits during the laydown and recovery process.